Basket display



April 5, 19539. H. ZIEMMERMAN 2,156,250

BASKET DISPLAY Filed Dec. 30, 1955 fferzly jaemmermarz I Patented Apr. 25, 1939 PATENT OFFICE BASKET DISPLAY Henry Ziemmerman,

Chicago Cardboard Company,

corporation of Illinois Application December 2 Claims.

This invention relates in general to a folding or collapsible open container or receptacle, preterably in the form of an upwardly flaring basket, made of flexible material such as cardboard, having at least one of the sections extending upwardly above the others andproviding a display plate for advertising.

An important object of the invention is in the provision of a'foldable display which may be easily set up and collapsed to substantially'flat conditionwhen not inuse. I

Another feature of the invention is in the provision of an interlocking bottom structure which automatically engages the inwardly sloping sides from the inside thereof, thus providing a bottom which is not easily pushed through the sides of the basket even though a heavy load is placed therein. A still further object of the-invention is in the provision of a basket display of this kind made of one or more pieces of sheet material cut, scored and foldable to fittogether as herein shown and described.

.In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective of a bas- 25 ket display embodying this invention, in unfolded or set-up position; I Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the interengagement of the upwardly extending bottom flaps;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken just above the bottom flaps;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

-Fig. 5 is a detail section on the line 55 of Fig. 35 2 of one interlocking engagement be ween the bottom flaps; and

Fig. 6 shows a one-piece blank from which the structure is made. g

In displays ot'this kind it has been proposed to 40 provide the bottom with downwardly formed flaps which constitute a support, with upwardly formed flaps which must abut and with flaps having hooks adapted to engage in corresponding slots inthe basket wall'structure' which are objectionable for the reasons that it is difllcult to fold the downwardly turned flaps inwardly at the bottom and when they do engage the base upon which the display is supported they tend-torip and'tear loose; the abutting engagement of the ends of the flaps is difllcult to insure because if they are not in alignment they constitute no support for.

the bottom, which may slip through the perforation at the sides if any weight is applied to the bottom; and the hooks may be difllcult to engage with the perforations, or it they become bent or Chicago, Ill., assignor to Chicago, 111., a

so, 1935, Serial No. 56,664

broken the bottom will be substantially without any support.

The present invention overcomes all oi! these objections by. providing the bottom with interengaging flaps which are inclined to insure their 5 inter-engagement as soon as the bottom is pressed downwardly within the sides, thereby automatieally locking the bottom against any reduction in size which would make it possible for the bottom to be pushed through the bottom opening of the 10 sides unless the structure itself is broken.

As these wedginginter-engaged flaps are made of somewhat resilient material, the bottom may tend to rise in the display unless some additional weight is carried by the bottom and to prevent 15 this a lug or projection is stuck out of one of the flaps adapted to engage below the edge of one of the basket sides for holding the bottom in its extended and downward position.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 20 ing, this display may be made of a single blank .of material as shown in Fig. 6,or of a number of pieces scored, cut and attached to form a similar structure. This blank comprises a main display plate in having sides II and I2, one provided with a gluing tab l3 and the other with extension sides I4, l5 and I 6, all tapered from top to bottom so that when the ends of the sides are connected they will form a hollow open structure with a bottom opening considerably less than the opening of the top.

To one of the sides, as l5, is'hinged a bottom l1, its edges preferably forming a polygon of the same number of sides as the sides of the display, and the edges of the bottom having flaps l8, I9 and 20 each formed with oppositely notched adjacent ends 2| and 22 forming overlapping and underlapping shouldered extremities respectively so arranged that when the flaps are brought together by. moving the bottom downwardly within 40 the sides, the notched shoulders or extremities 2| and 22 of the flaps will inter-engage and interlock forming a flaring cup, the upper edge of which is considerably larger in size than the opening at the bottom of the'sides sothat the more firmly the bottom is pressed downwardly the more firmly will be the engagement of the -flapsand the more the bottom structure will'be supported by the sides. The overlapping shouldered ends 2t and 22 each engage the opposite end of the adjacent flap at their shortest portion and the end of the lapping portion engages the corresponding side of the display so that the interlocking of the shoulders is substantially medi-'. I ally of the ends of the inter-engasinl flaps. thus:

forming a substantially irreducible flaring rim by the inter-engagement of the said flaps and the ends abutting the sides oi! the display to prevent further downward movement.-

In order to release the bottom from such en-.-

gagement it is simply pressed upwardly from the in its set up or unfolded condition, a projection or tab 24 is formed as an extension at one edge of the bottom by cutting it out of the tab 20 and the lower edge oi. the opposite side i 0 may be provided with a bottom notch 25 which engages this tab when the bottom is pressed down sumciently as shown in detail in Fig. 4. To disengage this tab there is sumcient yielding of the sides of the basket so that if the bottom of the side ill at the edges of the notch 25 are sprung outwardly, the tab 24 may be disengaged therefrom, allowing the bottom to spring or be pressed upwardly.

With this "construction the bottom tabs ov'erlap for interengagement with each other, there' is no end to end abutment of the tabs with each 1 other, and there is no hooked engagement of any of the tabs with the sides of the basket. Since this interlocking engagement is produced by.

rounded shoulders at the ends of the tabs there is no tendency to break the shoulders and sufflcient movement is possible in the eng'agementof these shoulders to permit a variation 01' the endownward movement oi! the bottom within the sides.

I claim:

1. A folding basket display comprising connected wall sections of sheet material tapered toward but open at the bottom, a bottom hinged at the lower edge of one wall section, having separate marginal flaps with inter-engaging opposite shoulders i'ormed intermediate the sides of each end adapted to abut, overlap and interlock at the ends of the flaps to provide outwardly flaring irreducible sides, a shoulder portion of the end of one flap engaging the opposite corresponding shoulder portion of the end of the next flap, and the overlapping extremities of both overlapping flaps engageablewith the lower portions of the adjacent corresponding outer wall sections to prevent downward movement of the bottom, the inter-engaging flaps forming an irreduceable upwardly flaring cup which wedgingly engages the wall sections near the bottom thereof and prevents the bottom from slipping through the opening at the lower end of the connected wall sections.

2. A structure in accordance with claim 1 in which the bottom having overlapping and'interlocking sections formed of sheet material tend to spring upwardly free from distendin'g engagement with the bottom of the basket andthe bottom being provided with a projection at the lower end of the flap in raised position engage- -able with the lower edge of one of the wall sections to lock the bottom against upward movement.

HENRY ZIEMMERMAN. 

